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BPAL Madness!

WidgetAlley

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Everything posted by WidgetAlley

  1. WidgetAlley

    Devil's Claw

    In the Imp: Strong, powdery, punch you in the face vetiver and patchouli, woody and smoky and really, really, really dark. Like woodsmoke, with a strange sweet overtone of barbeque. Amber is back there somewhere but right now this is really bizarre and kind of unpleasant. Wet: Smoked vetiver, much like Brimstone, and whatever strange note makes me smell like mesquite. I expected this to be dense dry wood and instead it's heavy, thick, almost chemically smoke. There's a very nice amber buried somewhere in there but it's overwhelmed by smoke. A dusty, almost salty note indicates myrrh too. Dry: As others have noticed, Devil's Claw much kinder when dry. I get a dusty, hot, windy sort of smell, a close cousin of Scarecrow, overlaid with a little church incense and the swampy but pleasant murk of vetiver. It's a grounding, earthy sort of smell-- not one I'm likely to keep, but it could be truly fabulous on the right skin chemistry!
  2. WidgetAlley

    Asp Viper (2006)

    This will be a quickie review since I've already sent this one on to a new home. I was REALLY ready to love Asp Viper, since in the bottle it smelled like Snake Oil and Shub-Niggurath had an amazing delicious baby. However, on my skin, the two trouble notes of mandarin and myrrh took over: the myrrh turned into an odd slightly salty nutty smell and the mandarin became weirdly slick and plasticky. So I ended up with awesome Snake Oil ginger cookies, but unfortunately it also smelled like they were burned to the pan. Hopefully its new owner can enjoy cookies without the weirdness!
  3. WidgetAlley

    Ile de la Tortue

    I've had an Imp of this hanging around for so long I didn't even realize it was discontinued! In the vial: Sharp ozone, salt and strongly soapy florals. Smells like baby wipes to me, even though the usual culprit (lavender) isn't listed. Nice baby wipes, though. Definitely expensive ones. I really like elemi so I'm hoping that will come through more on my skin. Wet: Oh yes, much better. It's the ozone and sea spray from Jolly Roger mitigated somewhat by those lovely, translucent orchids that Beth is so good at. Still no elemi, but there is just a hint of a dry, brown, sweet sort of something, almost like fig (maybe the palm wine?) at the back. Dry: Wow! This is surprisingly nice. I really expected it to be a screeching nightmare of aquatics, but in reality it's a lovely, orchid-dominant floral with just a breath of sea air and a wonderful bass note of rich brown palm. I don't think I'd pick it over the more attention-grabbing Shadow Witch Orchid, which I prefer due to its juiciness, but this one surprised me. I'll pass the Imp on to a better home but I have to say, if you love florals but were hesitating to try this one, don't fear the ozone!
  4. WidgetAlley

    Temple Viper

    I've already swapped this one away, so it will be a quick review. On me, Temple Viper was incredibly strong champaca and sweet resins, followed by just a hint of Snake Oil. I really expected to love it, but it was just.... way too LOUD for me. It's not smoky, deep, mysterious draw-you-closer incense, it's heady slap-you-across-the-face incense. I couldn't see preferring it to some of my other incense blends.
  5. WidgetAlley

    Destroying Angel Claw Polish

    I don't usually wear nail polish but I will make an exception for Destroying Angel! At one coat, it's the color of a Hershey milk chocolate bar. At two, it's opaque and so dark it almost looks black-- but it's a very deep, lovely, purple-y deep brown the color of the darkest loam soil. I love it! The application is smooth and easy, unlike drugstore nail polishes, it dries in a fairly reasonable time (although I still smudge! I always smudge, I'm impatient), and it is pretty sturdy stuff... not to mention, it's possible to "patch" over chips in such a way that it barely shows, which is a great bonus for people who work a lot with their hands. Definitely going to be getting more of the BPTP polish line, I'm mucho impressed!
  6. WidgetAlley

    Katrina van Tassel

    Bottle: I get sharp, almost unpleasant honey, a soft cream, and a powdery, slightly dusty rose. And my God, is the label art cute! Wet: Incredibly sharp, realistic, rose and just the tiniest bit of honey and cream. This reminds me of Rose Red in sharpness, but it is tempered by cream and honey and smells much warmer than Rose Red's hothouse flowers. No soap, which is absolutely amazing, considering it's that time of the month, and Aunt Flo tends to be a rose-killer. This is extremely simple and quite nice, although I wish the rose would soften just a little and let the honey and cream come out a little bit more. Quite a bit of throw, too. Dry: A little more of the cream comes up eventually, but this remains predominantly white rose. I am thrilled, THRILLED, that this rose doesn't go soapy on me, but I do wish it was a little bit softer and possibly more complex (I really wanted more cream and richer honey...) I will keep this around for rose perfume purposes, but I may find another one that works (!!!!!) that I like more.. in which case I will swap it. But for right now, I am just happy this works!
  7. WidgetAlley

    Queen of Sheba

    Frimp from the Lab! Imp: Whooooaaa momma! Incredibly strong, bitter, snarling saffron-- and I like saffron. I get a tiny hint of very bitter almond, way down at the bottom. This smells like it should burn your skin off. No honey, none of the sweet cherry I normally associate with almonds. Just nose-hair singeing saffron. It smells almost exactly like lovage tastes-- a mixture of old celery and curry. Wet: Stale popcorn and spicy plastic at first, then a tiny bit of almond finally emerges from under the saffron. It gets lighter, creamier and more pleasant... I agree with BlackLace's estimate of frosted cereal, but with spice. Indian food! That's what I get out of this. The combination of a spiced curry and almonds and creamy rice. Eventually something lovely and sweet comes up underneath it. Dry: Now it's creamy spiced sugared almond milk, which is much more pleasant... but it still reminds me of an Indian grocery or maybe Jordan almonds. It's pretty, but I would never wear it. I have a Syrian friend who might love it though!
  8. WidgetAlley

    Yvaine

    Dude, the art on these bottles is adorable! I wish I could have posters of them, that would be awesome. Bottle: That beautiful, astringent-but-gentle blue lavender I remember from Orpheus. It's totally different from the lavender in Pontia, which was sharper and more aggressive to my nose. Buried way down underneath all that is just the tiniest hint of creamy sweetness and musk. Wet: Lavender, and then swelling up and overtaking it-- huge white beautiful magnolia blooms, a dead ringer for the real thing. The lavender gives it a truly crystalline quality, making it clearer, sharper and brighter than just a single-note magnolia. Definitely floral, but nighttime floral. There's a decent throw of sugared magnolia and musk, which is always a bonus. It's perfumey, but it's so airy and cool and sophisticated you don't even care. Lush. Lush is a good word for this. It's like a pale blue velvet. Dry: After trying her the first time and having her be lavender-lavender-poofgone! on my skin, I really didn't expect to like Yvaine very much. But I do. She makes me feel like a princess, but not necessarily in a cute way... on my skin, this blend is all powdered sugar, night musk, and just a sprinkling of lavender and magnolia. It's regal, cool and warm at the same time, insanely gorgeous and not at all the type of thing I wear, but so beautiful and attention-grabbing and wearable I really doubt I'll be swapping her. This will be an awesome formal occasions perfume, and for any other time when I feel like
  9. WidgetAlley

    Carnaval Diabolique

    Bottle: This is weirdly faint in the bottle to my nose. I definitely get a soft and sugary lemon, the utterly delectable licorice-and-vanilla scent of heliotrope, a tiny bit of coconut, and maybe the lightest curl of opium smoke way down there at the bottom. It smells really good, it's just very, very light. Wet: The oil is a bright, bright yellow, which is super-cool. At first blast this is all lemon flower and vanilla, soft and fluttery and much like a lemon meringue, but after a minute a sweet and creamy coconut and the lovely heliotrope emerge. I get just a hint of apricots and no smoke, musk or tuberose at all. It is indeed sunny and cheerful, but I wish I got more of an edge from the smoke.... oh, there's the smoke and a bit of the musk. They give it a darkened feel, a little bit more sinister. It's making me hungry for pie still though! Dry; This fades incredibly fast on me, which is really too bad. In just about half an hour, I get a lingering heliotrope-laced coconut-vanilla scent that I quite like, but which is very hard to smell. Admittedly it's a terribly time of the month to be testing scents... I am on the fence about this one. I think I will stick it back in my box, cellar it for a few weeks, and try it again at a more hormonally accommodating time. Right now it smells delicious, but just isn't grabbing me the way I'd hoped.
  10. WidgetAlley

    The Wild Men of Jezirat al Tennyn (2006)

    Bottle: This perfume definitely has red components in it... because whoo boy is that liquid RED! Like, bright scarlet red. At first sniff this is all clove on me, that almost-harshy smoky clove smell like burning clove cigarettes, and rising right behind it is salty moss, musky ambergris and woody patchouli and this very deep, almost buried, completely incredible vanilla flower, that's sweetly vanilla and exotic orchid all at once. Just the mere sniff of this makes some very, um, intimate parts of me perk up and take notice. It is spicy, sweet, almost a tiny bit sweaty, and unabashedly, unashamedly sexual. Seriously, I want to hump a doorknob... or my desk... or my boyfriend... Apart from the sex appeal, it also smells damned amazing. Wet: At first this is quite mossy, with the clove and ambergris close runners-up. Then, after a minute, it settles and the amber comes up more, fiery golden and hot. Pepper and patchouli and clove combine to make this divine spice-wood smell, something almost like mahogany and almost like cinnamon but not quite like either, and way down there as a wonderful, exotic, but welcoming, base is the vanilla flower. This is rough, animalistic sex, the post-coital clove cigarette, and the almost proprietary, yet still affectionate, slap on the bottom afterward.... yet still, amazingly, it remains totally gender-neutral. This is, without a doubt, one of the sexiest, most incredibly searingly HAWT blends that Beth has ever graced our noses with. And yet... it's subtle, too, not so in-your-face as to be a nose-hair scorcher, just enough to get noticed. I want to bathe in it. I want to roll it. I want a giant penis-shaped bottle so I can construct an altar for it and worship it daily. Dry: This, as it dries, dies back on the fire just a little to let the more earthy elements come up-- moss and ambergris and patchouli-- and relaxes just slightly... yet retains that drop-dead gorgeous sexy best-natural-musk-ever kind of feel. It's spicy and earthy and just the tiniest, loveliest bit sweet, and I want massive vats of this constructed just for me. My ultimate verdict is that EVERYONE MUST TRY THIS IMMEDIATELY, if you have ever liked a spice blend ever even in the SLIGHTEST than this is for you, and make sure you have your significant other handy and that they are not holding anything delicate because you are going to effing knock them down and hump them silly when you smell it. Verdict: :evol: :evol:
  11. WidgetAlley

    Bordello

    A decadent, deep perfume, lusty and luxuriant. The scent evokes images of velvet-lined Old West cathouses, tightly laced corsets, rustling petticoats and coquettish snarls of pleasure. Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant. Imp: In the imp, this is lovely, rich plums and amaretto and something almost like polished wood behind it. Dark, almost sharp black current and strong sweet wine provide the backing. Very sexy, very rich, and definitely an attention-grabber. Wet: Wow, I would have thought this would be strong, but my skin almost ate it! Of course, it's not a good time of the month for me, so that might be-- oh, wait, no, there it is again. This is like The Red Queen, but tarted up... sexy dark fruit, boozy amaretto, something like a sugared wine and sleek, expensive wood. I swear I'm getting a hint of mahogany. The whole thing had the potential of going plastic on me but it stays, just barely, on the realistic side of sweetness. Smells like Wanda, but without the trimmings. Dry: A touch of sandalwood and incense seem to round this out after it dries, but otherwise the sweet, sugared wine and fruits remain. This is drop-dead sexy, and I have a feeling this imp will be used up pretty quickly!
  12. WidgetAlley

    Pink Moon 2005

    Imp from the lovely OneTheyCallLuna! Imp: Oh wow! Alcoholic strawberries, spun sugar, honey, and everything sweet! I catch a tiny hint of florals, way in the back, carnation and phlox and other lovely things, but mostly this is strawberries and something syrupy-sour-sweet, like champagne without the fizziness. It's certainly pink, but less bubbly and more sophisticated than I was expecting. Wet: I get a strong dusty sugar at first, then honey, then... something that smells unpleasantly like plastic. I am really getting surprisingly little floral out of this, just spun sugar and honey and fake strawberry flavouring. It could definitely be the hormones doing it, though, now is not the best of times to be testing anything. Dry: Eventually the strawberry plastic fades away, leaving strawberry vanilla-scented sugar in its wake, with honey and the faintest breath of florals. This is indeed like, THE PINKEST THING OF ALL TIME, but I am not really getting much depth or complexity out of it. Right now it's not my thing at all, but I will reserve judgment for a better time of the month. I really never thought I'd say this but... I hope the florals show up more!
  13. WidgetAlley

    Schlafende Baigneuse

    Somehow I have built this blend up in my head into THE blend that I will want to wear when it's shower-clean, soft, naked-in-the-sunshine time. Why, I don't know-- I think it's the beautiful tones of the painting, which makes me want to strip of all my clothes and jump into the nearest sunbeam. Anyway, I will be heartbroken if this doesn't work on me, which is utterly irrational considering it's got two killer notes-- rose and mandarin-- and I'm testing it at a bad time (post-chlorine pool and PMSing, which is the double-whammy.) But enough with my lack of internal logic. On to the review! Bottle: Mmm.... imagine sitting naked in the sunshine drinking fresh-squeezed orange juice and cream and honey with a huge bowl of yellow roses and honeysuckle on the table. It's sharp-floral sweet, a little powdery, very bright and lovely. Wet: A sweet, light, sunny floral, with a soft background of cream, honeycomb, skin musk and a glorious slightly lemony amber. Reminds me a bit of Bearded Lady, but not nearly as sharp or richly flowery. It's quite faint, but that could just be the chlorine drowning it out... and it does have a lovely tiny touch of throw, enough to draw you closer. I imagine aging would also increase the staying power here, once the amber, musk and rose mature. The rose is kind of soapy but in a clean pretty way, not a stale perfume one.... it's incredibly soft, like touching a white cashmere sweater. Dry: Very similar to the bottle scent, in the end... a little bit more floral, a little bit sweeter, but still that beautiful skin musk, hints of amber, cream, honey and beautiful sunny florals with the slightest touch of citrus. It is very, very reminiscent of the painting, which is AWESOME (), and for something so soft it's clinging surprisingly well. I will have to be in exactly the right mood to wear this, but it's perfect for those clean, lazy moments in the sunshine when you just feel... pretty. And I have the feeling it's only going to get better with age!
  14. WidgetAlley

    The Torture Queen

    Bottle: Sharp, strong whiteness. Soapy, clean tea, blindingly white amber, lovely gardenia and a very, very strong chrome note. I don't get any sweetness at all of the vanilla musk or the ambergris, except as a faint salty note. Wet: Oh, there's the sweetness. I get a strong white musk, a touch of faint vanilla, tea and strongly metallic chrome, but it's swirled together to make a cool, unified scent. It's not snowy or icy, just incredibly white and polished and bright and slightly soapy. Love the gardenia and the vanilla and the musk, not digging the others so much. The chrome not is so strong it's almost kind of hard to take. It reminds me very much of a commercial perfume... huge throw, too. I agree that sterile is a very good word for this... Dry: This warms and softens as it dries, as the vanilla musk, tea and ambergris come forward and the amber, chrome and gardenia take a backseat. It's pretty, but this is just too virginal for my tastes-- too cool and commercial, lacking something of depth and complexity on my skin. This would be great on a blue-eyed blonde but this famer's-tan brunette just can't pull it off. Swaps.
  15. WidgetAlley

    Three Witches

    Imp from the amazing OneTheyCallLuna! This is the resurrected version. Imp: Yum yum yum. A sweet, warm and husky cinnamon, like a whole cinnamon stick, bright clove, and a smooth woodiness from the white pepper. There's definitely something sweet in there, too, but not too sweet-- just enough so the spices don't singe my nose hair. Mmm.... I love it! Wet: Cinnamon, but with a slightly dusty, tickly hint to it that suggests cinnamon powder rather than bark. The clove smell is right beneath it, a wonderful spicy brown, and the pepper adds just enough bite. The sweetness is still there-- this reminds me a lot of a softer, more "bakery" Clemence... spice jars are one of my favorite scents in the world and this smells just like my spice cabinet! I can't get enough of it. Dry: Once the white pepper settles into my skin, this smells very much like Clemence... with a little bit of added bakery sweetness. I absolutely it, but I could probably get a similar effect by layering any strong vanilla and Clemence.... that being said, I still snap up a bottle if it became available again, and you can seriously pry my imp from my cold dead hands.
  16. WidgetAlley

    Danube

    Imp: Reminds me of a very expensive, high-end shampoo... blue-green marine notes, like bath salts or shower gel, and a sweet but indistinguishable floral. There's something almost candy sugary about this, but it's deepened by the smooth aquatic (which, I might add, is not salty but rather fresh, which is a bit of a nice change.) Wet: Honeysuckle! Or melon. That's what this smells like on me, but with a darker edge. I definitely get the aquatics very strongly, and, while I'm not usually thrilled by aquatics, they're pretty nice. Still a strong soapy/perfumey edge, but it's not horrible or enough to make it unpleasant. Kind of Bath and Bodyworks though. My nose is running too... I think there's something in this that's triggering my allergies; the first BPAL to do that, actually. Pretty strong as well. Dry: The florals die back to leave generic aquatic bath products with a hint of sweet honeysuckle-type flowers. Eh.
  17. WidgetAlley

    Paris

    Frimp from the lab! At least half the frimps I got this round were from the Wanderlust category... and the Labbies must be frickin' psychic because that's my very favorite! Imp: Right off the starting line, Paris is just... odd. But in a neat way. I definitely get a beautiful sharp French lavender, but following close behind is the strong, sweet, almost bubblegummy lotus. Under that are some beautiful soft spices, definitely clove and maybe allspice or nutmeg. There might be just a hint of mint, too.. or it could just be that lovely, stinging brown clove. The edges of the notes blend into one another beautifully, like a watercolor. Wet: The most beautiful spiced lavender, clove, a hint of something minty and a gorgeous, subtle lotus. This is a soft, clinging skin scent, but it has a wonderfully deceptive throw-- you'll think it's gone and then catch a whiff when you turn your head. The scent overall is cool and peaceful and just.... pleasant. Not a wishy-washy okay sort of pleasant, but a genuine lovely I-want-to-smell-this-for-the-rest-of-the-night-and-possibly-longer pleasant. I really think this blend showcases clove in a truly unique way-- there's not a thing Christmassy or festive about this, instead you're free to smell the amazing scent of cloves without prior bias. Dry: The drydown of this is very similar to the wet phase, just a little softer and closer. This is a truly beautiful, pastel-feeling second-skin smell, and one that I just can't get enough of. I will definitely be using my imp, and depending on how fast it disappears, I may even contemplate a bottle. This is perfect for every time, every mood, every season and every event... a lovely, deep, yielding and feminine scent.
  18. WidgetAlley

    Velvet Tiki

    This is going to be a quickie review, since this bottle is technically for my mother! I should also add that this just came through the mail, and I'm sure it will be a bit wonky because of all the shaking and temperature changes. Bottle: Strong, lovely, slightly floral pina colada! There's something deeper and more complex underneath it, and maybe a hint of green too? I definitely get the coconut, pineapple, passionfruit, vanilla and orchids. Something like a sweet milk note too. I know what bouganvilla looks like (it's gorgeous!) but was unaware that it had a smell... Ooohhh, this is so summery and tropical and nice! It smells like how those big beautiful coral hibiscus look. Wet: The coconut morphs into something huskier and drier and greener, which is really cool, and the pineapple dies back a bit to let the florals come out and play. These aren't shy retiring flowers; these are huge bright colorful blooms, nodding to one another in the warm, humid breeze. It's like a pineapple-coconut milkshake and the tropicals section of my greenhouse had a baby and then bottled her smell. Great throw on this one, too. Dry: Fresh tropical flowers and even fresher fruits! While this is sort of reminiscent of Milk Moon '07, the milk here doesn't go sour like in MM. Velvet Tiki is one HUGE scent, not in terms of throw, but in terms of expansive joyfulness. It makes you want to dance around in circles on a tropical beach. Bust out the sarongs and the flip flops and the white sand and the beautiful sunsets! My mother is going to go completely nuts for this one, and I might just have to steal her bottle every once in a while.
  19. WidgetAlley

    What Scent Is This?

    Your picture isn't working for me, and I've never sniffed Anaconda, but I will confirm (after checking) that Coral Snake is a beautiful reddish oil, and definitely has lemon undertones... can you detect a sweet hint of apples? Because if so that's definitely Coral Snake. I don't know what color it is, but your description also made me think of Saw-Scaled Viper.
  20. WidgetAlley

    Oneiroi

    Obviously reviewing this for scent would be a little bit silly, but I will say that this definitely contains mugwort, a soothing English-style lavender, jasmine, honeysuckle and maybe a little bit of some other florals. There's something almost bitter and smoky underneath it, mysterious and deep, but it's soothing, not threatening. Definitely bergamot as well, this reminds me quite a bit of a softer Pontia (and the smoke doesn't go to barbeque on me.) This doesn't absolutely knock me out but it does help me feel relaxed, soothed, spaced-out and ready for sleep. As far as crazy dreams, I have crazy dreams all the time (remind me to tell you about the one where I killed Napoleon and then went to live in the trees), but Oneiroi does seem to help me remember them, and I sink deeper into the dreams and don't thrash around so much. It doesn't necessarily give me peaceful rest, but it is definitely beneficial rest, if that makes sense. I like it but I think my imp will be enough.
  21. WidgetAlley

    Desdemona

    Imp: A soft, watery, slightly spiced floral! Very quiet, subdued and almost ethereal. Wet: A nicely-milled, slightly grainy but still aquatic floral soap; it doesn't quite smell like soap but more like what soaps are fragranced with. It's definitely very girly, but fresh and light and cream-colored rather than pink and frilly. It's pretty, but not at all my type of scent. (Which makes sense-- I always kind of thought that Desdemona was annoying anyway.) Dry: Clean and soft but still spicy enough from the carnation to be interesting. There's something in it that's honestly kind of grainy on me, it feels like how bath salts smell. Nice but not me. If you're into florals you should definitely check this out.
  22. WidgetAlley

    Osun

    Imp: Sweet, watered-down honey and huge bouquets of wildflowers! And maybe some fruits, too, cantaloupe and sweet white grapes and roses and the sweet smell of drying herbs. Maybe even some almonds. Truly good enough to eat. Wet: At first, it's like it's almost not there. Then, after a minute or two, this gentle swell of sweet wildflower-- orange blossom and clover-- honey rises to meet my nose. It's incredibly soft, and lovely, and smells like it's just a natural part of me. Underneath it all I can smell roses and white grapes or maybe a dry wine, two notes that are notoriously bad on me, and here they're completely well-behaved. There might be some orchid in this too, I am getting a beautiful translucent floral overlaid on top, and the wet squish of melon. Definitely a bountiful summer scent. I think I also get a whiff of aloe or lavender. Dry: Sadly, something in here eventually goes a little bit sharp, a little bit sour, and more than a little powdery, which is really too bad because I was totally digging it. It's not enough to entirely ruin the blend but it is noticeable. It is Shark Week for me so perhaps that's what's doing it-- I will definitely keep the imp and give it another go, because Osun started out absolutely gorgeous, and I'm disappointed that she didn't follow through.
  23. WidgetAlley

    Rose Recommendations - which blend is for me?

    Hullo, people who know waaaay more about BPAL than I do! I have one of those skin chemistries that just ruins roses-- old-lady soap every time! Which is super too bad, because I love the smell of roses, and I grow them (and work with them some professionally as well.) I dream of smelling like roses, I really do. I'm fine with something that smells like something-AND-roses, I just want any roses at all! But so far the only rose blends that have worked on me have been the ones in which you can't smell the rose, or in which a soapy component works. *sigh* So tell me, BPAL gods, is there a rose recommended out there for someone with my horrible skin chemistry? Have already tried and did not work: Rakshasa, Blood Rose, Delight, Desire, Endymion, Whip (oh God, my two nemesis notes!), Jezebel, Rapture, Ephemera, Seraglio, Midnight, Nocturne, Zombi, Highwayman, Mata Hari, Catherine, Marie, Himerus, Kali, Nyx, I have also tried Rose Red, and it wasn't soap, it was too sharp and hothouse-flowery for me, it smelled chemical and refrigerated. Tried and worked: The Haunted Palace, Psyche, The Temptation, Wanda, Namaste, Eve, and a few others.
  24. WidgetAlley

    Lunar Eclipse

    St. Dalfour's Organic Darjeeling Tea is my very favorite of all time, and when I saw that this had darjeeling in it, I had to have it. Bottle: Allow me to be the very first to say that this smells utterly rank in the bottle. It's the most horrible combination of ugly, smoldering weeds (vetiver), mildew (moss), baby powder (violet + lavender) and heavy dust (myrrh or frankincense or possibly both.) It's seriously hideous, like Highwayman without the screaming florals. Wet: This goes, I swear, nutty for a second, and then smooths and warms and breathes into something much more palatable. The vetiver calms down to a mere trace of dense green, and the tobacco, black currant, darjeeling, fruit, red musk and spice all come out to play. Mmm.... there is an almost gummy, sticky feel to this, but it's also very dry, like fruit jellies covered in powdered incense. The orchid sweetens and lightens it and the lavender gives it an almost herbal bite. Ungh. This is so good. It's like a masculine Crypt Queen... greener and wilder and less refined, but still that same smoked-wine darkness. The tobacco/fruit/tea/musk combo is just dynamite... I feel so powerful and sexy. Dry: Crap! This fades pretty quickly, which makes me sad, 'cause I was totally diggin' it. But I'm sure aging will help. After a few hours, all that's left on my arm is a lingering, green-scored, fruit-traced impression of deep, bitter red wine and musk. I just love it... it almost seems like it should be a Dracula scent to me, because it's so dark and deep and rich and bloody. This is most definitely an undiscovered BPAL treasure... and you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.
  25. WidgetAlley

    Dian's Bud

    Imp: A sweet, cool fresh-water scent, the green smell of snapped stems and sap, a little bit of sweet melon, and a touch of something herbal and bitter in the background. Definitely wormwood-- it's the scent that is released into the air when I brush my hands over wormwood plants at the garden center where I'm currently working. It's got the same astringency as tea, but the sort of bitter bite of geranium. Wet: The same, cucumber and melon and clear fresh water and bitter-green wormwood and maybe something like chamomile? That might not sound pleasant but I'm actually a big fan of it! We do not have air conditioning at my house and this is sort of like the scent version of it. It almost smells like refrigerated lettuce, but in a nice way. Something way in the background goes a little soapy but it's not bad enough to be a problem. Dry: Much the same, but a little less juicy and a little more floral. The wormwood totally makes this scent for me, adding a fantastic green bitter herbal quality to an otherwise sweet and girly blend. This is pretty, cool and unobtrusive, and, I think, will be great for working outside....
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